At WNS, It's Game On!

This year, our priority is to return to all of the programming in support of academic and social-emotional growth that we have been long known for and to rebuild the strong connection with our parent and caregiver community we had prior to the pandemic. We can accomplish this if we have everyone’s full support and partnership. Below is a summary recap of the key elements of our Five Layers of Safety for a successful 2022-23 School Year.

1. Limit Chance of Exposure

  • Masks: While masks are now optional for our WNS community both indoors and outdoors, please keep high quality masks handy. We ask that you use your best judgement when around others that you do not know. If you are in a crowded indoor venue, we encourage you to consider wearing a mask. 
  • Antigen tests: Test regularly, and ask others to do so, too. If you or your student were in a situation where exposure could have occurred (big indoor event, indoor sports activities, travel activities, etc.), please take an antigen test before coming back to campus.
  • Symptom screening: continue to seriously symptom screen and keep your students home if they have any non-chronic symptoms.
  • Communicate: email or call the school nurse if you have had a potential close contact so we can guide you on any isolation precautions. Please access the TOS if there has been any exposure. 
  • Playdates: This is a time to schedule lots of playdates for your children! We suggest antigen testing before playdates. Please actively supervise during these playdates, as many children are relearning how to socialize and engage in positive play, sharing, and managing their language, and may need your positive coaching. 

2. COVID Vaccination

  • There is no single better barrier to spreading COVID or to avoid serious illness than to get the COVID vaccine.
  • It is a baseline expectation that our entire school community be fully vaccinated if eligible. 
  • 100% of WNS Faculty and Staff, as well as ACE teachers and coaches, are required to be fully vaccinated.
  • Being ‘fully vaccinated’ means having received a booster vaccine when eligible.

Update for the 2022-23 School Year: 

  • All faculty, staff, and students 5 years and older are required to be fully vaccinated as of the start of the 2022-23 school year. 
  • Full vaccination will include receipt of any booster doses recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and/or the Los Angeles Department of Public Health (LADPH).
  • Boosters: A booster dose is now recommended by the CDC and FDA for anyone 5 years and older five months after receiving the initial doses.
  • Documentation of K-8 student vaccination status (uploaded into Playground) will be required within two weeks of a child aging into vaccine eligibility.
  • Children under 5 years of age can now receive a COVID vaccination. While not required at this time, we strongly encourage our preschool and DK students to be vaccinated when they become eligible.
Click here for WNS's statement on COVID vaccinations for 22-23 school year

3. Symptom Screening

The most important thing you can do is to authentically symptom screen the household each morning and hold your student back from school if anyone in your household has any of the following symptoms:
 
  • Runny nose
  • Sore throat
  • Cough
  • Fever over 100.4 degrees
  • Chills and/or body pain. 

Daily symptom screening of your student(s) and your household is essential to our protection of the school community from COVID. If any YES answer, please keep your child(ren) home and contact the School Nurse at Schoolnurse@wns-la.org.

1. If your child or someone in the household has mild symptoms that may or may not be symptoms of COVID-19, such as congestion or sniffles, please take two antigen tests two days apart and contact the school nurse before sending your student to school. 
 
2. If in doubt, please take a day or two in TOS and test to be sure there is no COVID-19 infection before sending your child to school. 
 

PLAYGROUND DAILY SYMPTOM SCREENING QUESTIONS:

Testing Protocols for 2022-23 School Year

We will no longer be testing students on a weekly basis as of the start of the 2022-23 school year, subject to change.
 
Please note, this may change if conditions change, and we have a new system with PATH (our testing partner) that will allow us to test students during the school day if necessary.
 
For now, we will only do targeted surveillance testing:
  • Testing ALL students (either PCR or Antigen) prior to returning to school after the fall, winter, and spring breaks.
  • Antigen testing all middle school students prior to overnight retreat trips.
  • Testing faculty and staff weekly. 
  • For new students, please ensure your student is pre-registered with PATH

4. School Based Layers of Mitigation

Masks:

Students, faculty, and staff: masks will be optional at WNS, both indoors and outdoors, subject to change. 
  • Exception: students or faculty in school under one of our “exposure protocols” must wear a high-quality face mask (KN95 or KF94).
    • Cloth and surgical masks are not acceptable for school use

Illness Policy: 

Students and employees who have a new onset of symptoms should not come to school. To return to school, they must have a negative COVID test and be free of fever for 24 hours, without fever-reducing agents. Those who develop symptoms on campus may obtain a COVID test at the nurse’s office on either campus. 

5. Infection Containment

Please report any active COVID cases to schoolnurse@wns-la.org. 
 
  • In-School Exposure
    • Students in a grade level with a known exposure must wear masks indoors for five days.
    • Symptom screen daily and report any signs of symptoms to the school nurse (schoolnurse@wns-la.org).
    • Students must take a home antigen test on day three after the exposure (WNS Health Services will provide guidance if this situation occurs). Results must be to uploaded to Playground.
  • In-Home Exposure
    • Consult with the school nurses (schoolnurse@wns-la.org) for guidance on the advisability of asymptomatic students with a negative antigen test attending school. 
      • Take home antigen tests on day one and day five and symptom screen daily. 
      • Students must wear a mask at school for 10 days.

Visitors On Campus

We are prioritizing getting our parents and caregivers back on campus and integrated back into our school community!
 
We ask that you symptom screen and stay home if feeling unwell. Please also feel free to wear a mask at your discretion. 

Non-COVID Health & Safety Guidance

Beyond COVID, it is critical to us to keep our community healthy and safe. With this in mind, please keep these important school protocols front of mind to do your part in helping us maintain a safe environment:
  • Required Vaccinations – all children in the state of California are required to be vaccinated to protect themselves and others from a variety of diseases. Documentation of these vaccinations must be entered into your child(ren)’s MAGNUS Health Record prior to the opening of school. 
  • Lanyards – all parents and caregivers are provided WNS lanyards; they need to be worn at all times on campus. It is a critical link in our school safety protocols. 
  • Car Decals – all vehicles coming onto campus for student drop-off or pick-up must display a WNS Decal so we know the vehicle belongs on our campus. 
  • Driving Around Campus and Student Drop-off and Pick-up Protocols – please review and follow all of our protocols for safe traffic flow and CUP requirements.
  • Gate Codes & Building Access – as is our practice, all of the gate codes that secure all of the campus entrances have been changed for campus security. As a part of our campus safety plan, all of our campus entrances are protected by fencing and gates that require these codes for access. Parents and guests need to check in at one of our security kiosks to access to our school buildings.
Temporary Out of School Plan (TOS)

WNS has created a Temporarily Out of School plan (TOS) for K-8 students missing school only for the following reasons:

  • Students in isolation due to a positive COVID-19 test
  • Student in quarantine due to an exposure to COVID-19
  • Students awaiting a negative test result after travel or other high-risk encounter 
If you think your student qualifies for TOS, please submit your request via the button below.
 
  • Complete the registration form via the button below. If you know your student will be out ahead of time, please submit your request as soon as possible to avoid delays. 
  • With advance notice, your child should be able to begin using the TOS program immediately. When it is a same day notice, we will make every effort to get your student engaged in TOS ASAP and will do so within 24 hours.
  • Students missing school are always welcome to check the classroom website (K-1) or Google Classroom (2-8) to view assignments.
  • You will receive information from your child’s teacher and/or the TOS teacher (K-4 only) within 24 hours or 1 full business day.
  • You will be contacted by the health office within 48 hours to determine and collect the student’s return date. To help expedite this process you may contact Chelsea Magdaleno at cmagdaleno@wnsk8.com with a good time to connect, Monday-Friday 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
TOS is not for students missing school for the following reasons:
  • Missing school for the day due to a doctor appointment or other appointments
  • Missing school while on vacation
  • Missing school for 1-2 days unrelated to COVID-19

Why can it take up to 24 hours or 1 full business day to fully enter the TOS program? 

WNS is committed to continuous learning in all environments.  This means we need time to notify teachers, collect materials and communicate with families.  Notifying the school over the weekend may result in a Tuesday start in the TOS program.

We are fortunate to have an expert in the field of virtual learning: Lori Getz, Director of Online Learning, as part of the WNS team. If you have questions regarding online learning, please reach out to your child’s teacher, or Lori at onlinelearning@wns-la.org. 

Register here for TOS plan

will have a morning meeting and afternoon check-in all together, and work independently on their Seesaw activities in between. 

will have a morning meeting together, work independently on Google Classroom activities, and an afternoon check-in by grade level. 

will receive an email reminder for accessing assignments on Google Classroom and have a check-in with their teacher in the afternoon. Students will work independently on their Google Classroom activities and email with teachers about their classwork. 

will access their class schedule on Google Calendar and assignments on Google Classroom. Google Calendar will indicate if a student is expected to Zoom into any classes each day. Students have one check-in with a teacher in the afternoon and will work independently on their Google Classroom activities and email with teachers about their classwork.